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"I thought we would be there or thereabouts for sure, and it's been a brilliant start for the Ford and Mustang. There are a lot of people crying about how fast we are but you have to just cop that stuff and get on with things."

Tasmania will be a challenge for McLaughlin. He's been on the podium twice (second) in 14 starts over the past six years. Triple Eight and the Holdens have dominated at Symmons Plains in recent years and should be just as quick this weekend.

Jamie Whincup loves the place, having won 12 times on the tight, technical track. No other driver has had more than three wins and Whincup is just 31 points behind the Kiwi.

"We don't get to do a lot of practice during the season, it's only three days a year, so you have to have a lot of trust in your engineers for car set-up at the beginning of the weekend.

"At the end of the day, we have the best [engineers] in the category and you have to trust their judgement and hope we have a good car when we get there [Tasmania]," said McLaughlin.●Fellow high-flying Kiwi Scott Dixon is belting up for round three of the IndyCar series at Birmingham, Alabama. The five-time champion is third on 57 points behind Colton Herta (75) and Josef Newgarden (93) and needs a good result to stay in touch with the leaders.

Dixon has good form at the deep south track, having finished on the podium seven times in nine races. However, he's yet to win.

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"It annoys me more than baffles me," Dixon said. "Some of those races have been good races, and second was probably the best we had. Two or three of those have also been ones we've messed up a little or came up short. You have to be in it to win it, and we haven't had that chance there yet; nobody's fault apart from ours."

While the Kiwi may be cursing his luck at being winless at Barber Motorsport Park, there's no denying it's a venue that suits him. Dixon likes the track and is comfortable racing in the wet or dry on the narrow circuit, originally designed as a motorcycle track. Therefore it's not that forgiving if you get outside the white lines.